Title : AN EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION IN ANIMALS OF THE FUNCTIONAL AND MORPHOLOGICAL CHANGES FROM SINGLE AND REPEATED EXPOSURES TO CARBON MONOXIDE

Descriptive Note : Final rept. 1 Apr 60-28 Feb 62.

Corporate Author : MARYLAND UNIV COLLEGE PARK

Personal Author(s) : FISHER,RUSSELL S.

Report Date : 28 FEB 1962

Pagination or Media Count : 1

Abstract : Study was undertaken for the purpose of checking whether long exposures to the maximum allowable concentrations of CO indeed may produce irreversible morphologic changes which may be of any functional significance. An attempt was made to produce irreversible changes in the brain by applying single acute exposures to higher concentrations to gain better insight into the mechanism of permanent brain damage. In these latter experiments concentrations greater than 1000 p.p.m. were used. All experiments were performed on dogs which were of the same body weight and had undergone the usual pre-experimental screening. Chronic exposures to 100 p.p.m. and to 50 p.p.m. of CO may not only produce functional disorders but also morphologic changes in heart and brain. These may be clinically silent. Findings established in dogs cannot be applied to human exposures. Nevertheless, they suggest that exposure of man to these concentrations may not be completely harmless. Subjective complaints such as forgetfulness, headaches, palpatation of the heart, inability to stand major stress may be related to such changes. Results demonstrated that the heart may be the major site of damage and that the brain would not be as vulnerable, if the hypoxemia produced by CO would not be complicated by disorders of the systemic circulation. (Author)